Economic & Sustainable Development: Expanded Outdoor Seating

The Challenge

To prevent the spread of COVID-19, restaurants were required to limit indoor seating. Additionally, many people felt more comfortable dining outdoors. In conjunction with the local business community, the City of Bloomington’s Department of Economic and Sustainable Development (ESD) sought ways to help local restaurants and shops change their physical  layout. In the restaurant-dense area along Kirkwood near IU’s Sample Gates, there was an especially heightened need to promote physically distant dining. Parts of Kirkwood had been closed before for festivals, so ESD surmised something similar could be implemented more regularly to fight the spread of COVID-19. 

The Idea

Since mid-June, restaurants along some blocks of Kirkwood have been permitted to expand outdoor seating into the street to facilitate physical distancing for their customers. Before implementing the extended outdoor seating project, ESD, the other city departments involved, and various community partners, required strong consensus across affected businesses and parties. Removable bollards installed as part of the Kirkwood maintenance project protect the temporary pedestrian space. Originally limited to the blocks between Indiana and Grant, the pilot has been expanded to the block between Washington and Walnut. The pilot restricts vehicular traffic along Kirkwood from Thursday at 2 p.m. through Monday morning at 8 a.m., but allows traffic to flow north and south on the streets intersecting Kirkwood. A model originally meant to last until September 30th, the City Council voted on September 23rd to extend the program through the end of 2020. The option for extended outdoor space was offered to retail operations as well as restaurants, however, the city has not had any retail businesses participate so far. 

The Cost

There is no cost to the adjacent restaurants to take advantage of the extended outdoor seating on Kirkwood, though they must provide their own outdoor furniture. There certainly are labor costs associated with putting up and taking down the bollards on a weekly basis, though equally impressive innovations surrounding this process have been developed. Feel free to check out previously posted innovation stories pertaining to bollards to learn more about how the original burdens of working with bollards have been mitigated. The biggest cost associated with this innovation relates to the revenue lost from meters at these parking spaces. While this strategy does reduce revenue to the City from parking meters, the cost is outweighed by our ability to support local businesses in complying with health orders and staying in business.

The Benefit

The primary benefits of parklets are that they increase the potential for sales by local businesses while protecting the health and wellness of patrons and staff during the COVID-19 pandemic. By encouraging outdoor dining, Kirkwood closures aim to limit transmission of the disease, especially in the student-dense area near IU’s Sample Gates. The temporary closures of Kirkwood benefit not only restaurant-goers who are more comfortable dining outside, but the businesses who depend on providing safe service during the pandemic. 

Metadata

City Department(s): Economic and Sustainable Development, Public Works, Parking, Office of the Mayor, Fire Department

City Point of Contact: Kaisa Goodman (Special Projects Manager, Department of Economic & Sustainable Development)

Partner(s): Kirkwood Community Association, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation, Downtown Bloomington Inc, Bloomington Chamber of Commerce

Partner(s) Point(s) of Contact: N/A

Type of Innovation: Parking; Brand New Service

Date Implemented: June 2020